With the first, the missed period clued me in. No-brainer, there.
With the last two, it was odd food cravings. Spicy beef burritos, veggie egg rolls, anything Mexican or Chinese. Still had periods, but every time I want a burrito or an egg roll, my husband gets nervous, even after I got fixed.
I also used to get this odd sensation of being somewhere else… like in the mall in the Midwestern town where my sister went to college in 1980, or the line for Space Mountain at DisneyWorld, or the slot machines at the MGM in Vegas, just some place that I’d been 5 or 10 or 20 years before, complete with smells and all sensations. That was strange, and I’ve wondered if there’s a name for that. I only ever had that when I was pregnant. It was kind of neat, but very weird.
Regarding the itching I mentioned earlier - it was absolutely horrible, but I never had a rash, redness, bumps or anything. Every square inch of skin was itchy, like I wanted to rip my skin off. I ended up taking Benadryl tablets just to maintain my sanity. This all happened from about week 2 to week 7 (I had the pregnancy terminated at that point since it was unwanted*). After that, the itching went away.
I had the feeling it was some sort of overall allergic reaction to the foreign object inside my body. Does that make sense? Is that a possibility?
- Just for the sake of disclosure - be very careful with your birth control pills, girls! I had been on the pill for almost 15 years with no problem, and always take it correctly, but it failed in this instance. So unfortunately I had to get an abortion
One more thing - my other symptom was that my boobs got all swollen and nipples were sore. But I never felt sick to my stomach. Maybe I wasn’t pregnant long enough. When exactly is it that morning sickness usually sets in?
Ooh, never mind other factors, such itching sounds like grounds for terminating all by itself! I can’t believe that “they” think it’s not a big deal so no research goes into it - that would be pure torture!
As for nausea, it varies a lot. Some people never get a hint of it, some people start barfing in the first few weeks, and don’t stop till the pregnancy is over. Some people have hyperemesis requiring hospitalization and IV drips, some people have a vague queasiness or aversion to food without ever once throwing up. Most women have nausea and perhaps some vomiting during the first trimester, and then it clears up.
With my first daughter, I was nauseated, but it never rose to the level (ha ha) of vomiting. With this baby I had some milder nausea, but at 22 weeks I continue to have what stargazer described - I can be wildly hungry, but have no appetite. Every available food seems vaguely icky. It’s kind of good, because it has helped me limit my weight gain per midwife instructions (I was morbidly obese when I got pregnant), but kind of bad because I wind up eating only super-appetizing foods (to me) that aren’t very nutritious, like sweets and refined carbs.
With my first son, I had one instance of nausea…I was on a roundabout, headed to work and I all of a sudden felt like I was going to throw up. It went away and that was it. With my second son, I didn’t have any morning sickness at all.
For me, early pregnancy signs were breast tenderness, horrible heartburn, and a runny nose. Seriously, my nose was like a faucet. Probably related to all the snot coming out, but I actually had trouble smelling stuff. I could smell a weird, sort of minty smell that covered everything up. Convenient, huh? Oh, I also had complete, to-the-bone exhaustion.
Thorny Platypus, glad to hear things worked out for the best for you!
Oh my gosh!
I’m pregnant!
Regards,
Shodan